James Cunningham said he believes Islamic extremism is one of the largest threats to United States citizens and their values and ways of life.

“This is not a threat from Islam itself, but from a distorted ideology that it is important to recall is rejected by the vast majority of Muslims around the world. Most of its victims have been people of the Islamic faith, not Americans or others,” said Cunningham, a former United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Israel and the United Nations, respectively.

Cunningham, who is also a Class of 1974 SU alumnus and current senior fellow at the Atlantic Counsel’s South Asia Center, addressed members of the Syracuse University community in Maxwell Auditorium on Friday. He spoke to a crowd of about 150 people about his perspectives on violent Islamic extremism, the United States’ role in Afghanistan and the Middle East post-9/11.

For roughly 20 minutes Cunningham — who is one of four recipients of SU’s 2016 George Arents Award, the university’s highest alumni honor — read a speech before answering questions from the audience for another 40 minutes. The event was open to the public, but the auditorium was mostly filled with SU alumni on campus for Homecoming Weekend, along with current SU students and faculty.

The U.S. faces many threats from around the world, Cunningham said in his opening remarks. He added that increased North Korean aggression and Russian efforts to disrupt the “post-Cold War framework” of Europe are major concerns.

The former ambassador used the extremist group al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, the self-proclaimed caliphate located in portions of Syria and Iraq, as examples of groups driven by distorted Islamic ideology.

While Cunningham said he has no doubt the Islamic State is doomed, he added that the spread of violent, radical Islamic ideology is something the U.S. cannot hope to defeat without allies, time, commitment, coalitions and Islamic partners.

Much of Cunningham’s speech was focused on Afghanistan, where he served as the U.S. ambassador from 2012 to 2014, during portions of President Barack Obama’s first and second terms in office.

Cunningham said the war in Afghanistan is just one campaign in the U.S.’s fight against Islamic extremism. He consistently defended the war throughout his speech saying despite critics and “notwithstanding the negative press,” Afghanistan is not a failed state.

“Americans like to solve problems preferably in the short-term, and to move on,” Cunningham said. “We don’t like long-term commitments, and even less so, long-term conflict. That is perfectly understandable, but after 15 years (post-9/11) it should be clear that approach won’t work here.”

There have been multiple successes in Afghanistan including the increased willingness of Afghan soldiers to take the lead and fight for their country, a decrease in infant mortality, more voter participation and a new fight for women’s rights, the former ambassador said.

Cunningham called the “train, advise and assist” strategy currently employed by the U.S.’s coalition with NATO, EU and UN in Afghanistan a plan that, “can enable the Afghans to prevail.”

With a recent surge in Taliban attacks and activity, the U.S.’s opinion over the war appears nearly split. According to a 2015 Gallup Poll, which asked participants whether the U.S. made a mistake in pursuing military action in Afghanistan, 54 percent of Americans said the U.S. did not make a mistake in entering Afghanistan, while 42 percent said the U.S. did.

During the discussion portion of the event, Cunningham faced a range of questions illustrating this public divide over the war.

Some attendees asked about the importance of the war in Afghanistan, how to respond to tribal divisions in the country, the Syrian civil war and the U.S.’s response to the refugee crisis, the significance of the recent coup attempt in Turkey — a NATO member — and “deradicalization.”

Following the event Jennifer VanRiper, a graduate student in Maxwell studying international relations and public administration, said she saw the public’s anger over the war reflected in the questions. While Cunningham did well in answering and responding to attendees, VanRiper said she didn’t think the former ambassador articulated the need and idea that a frail or unstable peace in Afghanistan is better than no peace at all.

“I’m not sure if he was fully able to express that,” VanRiper said.

Published on September 18, 2016 at 9:26 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek